The parents of a 13-year-old boy accused of fatally injuring a tourist after a statuette was thrown from a balcony in Naples, Italy, could face prison following the incident.
The घटना happened in September 2024 in the city’s Spanish Quarter, where the child is alleged to have picked up a 4.4 pound onyx statuette and hurled it from a hotel balcony. The object struck 30-year-old tourist Chiara Jaconis on the head.
Jaconis, who worked as the manager of a Parisian Prada store, was walking through the area alongside her boyfriend, Livio Rousseau, when the statuette hit her without warning.
Rousseau was filmed crying out ‘Chiara’ and ‘oh my god’ as he rushed to help and called for assistance. Jaconis suffered catastrophic brain injuries and died in hospital two days later.
According to investigators, the statuette fell roughly 32 foot before impact, and it reportedly shattered when it hit the ground due to the force of the fall.
Because criminal responsibility in Italy begins at 14, prosecutors are now focusing on the boy’s parents, arguing they ‘should have supervised the boy’ ahead of the events of September 15. They are seeking to prosecute them on manslaughter-related allegations.
The mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, said: “It is a great sorrow, a tragedy that deeply affects all of us.” Meanwhile, the mayor of Jaconis’ hometown—Padua in northern Italy—described her death as ‘absurd and tragic’.
Prosecutors have also pointed to claims that the child had previously thrown objects from elevated places, with the ‘problematic’ boy allegedly tossing ‘clothes pegs, a remote control, and a tablet’ from similar locations in the past.
After a juvenile court cleared the teen, authorities pursuing accountability for Jaconis—who was in Naples to celebrate her 30th birthday—shifted attention to his parents, with an effort to charge them with negligent manslaughter.
The boy’s parents, aged 65 and 54, dispute any responsibility for what happened. Their lawyer maintains the statuette did not belong to them and insists they have ‘no case to answer’.
Carlo Bianco, the couple’s lawyer, said in a statement: “This is a tragedy that has struck two respectable families, that of poor Chiara and that of the two professionals.”
In a further development, the parents have reportedly asked for the criminal proceedings involving their son to be reopened, so he can contest the allegations in court rather than the matter being decided solely on the basis of his age.
Even as questions remain over who may ultimately face trial over Jaconis’ death, her father, Gianfranco Jaconis, said the move to pursue the parents is ‘a step’ forward.
He said: “It doesn’t reward us or satisfy us because another hard and tortuous journey lies ahead. But it’s a start.
“The only consolation that will help us face this new tortuous journey, made up of hearings, testimonies, and interrogations, is that we are finally getting to the truth – the one we have always sought.”
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 26 to determine whether the case will move ahead to trial.